


It's All In Your Head

by TheNamelessOne



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-23 03:29:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17072663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNamelessOne/pseuds/TheNamelessOne
Summary: Edward is gone, and Bella's living with secrets of her own. Or more accurately, dying by them. Charlie's discovering pieces of his daughter's hidden life and racing to put the pieces together in time. The last granules of sand are falling from the hourglass now and the decision of their future is no longer up to Edward and Bella.[Slow updates]





	It's All In Your Head

**Author's Note:**

> First, and most importantly-I need to shout to the world that I have the most FABULOUS beta a girl could ever ask for. CassandraLowery, not only do you strengthen and encourage me every time I desperately need it, but you make my silly words readable, and help me to create new worlds in which we can all frolic when the real one gets to be too real. You'll forever have my love and respect. This little story is dedicated to you, my friend.
> 
> Enjoy this short introduction to a new adventure. This is a Bella/Edward story that gives you a lovely dose of father's Carlisle and Charlie to go with it. All mistakes are my own, as it is possible I just copied it over incorrectly after the awesome CassandraLowery made it all shiny and new for me.

He slipped the last chart back into its home at the end of his sleeping patient's bed and checked her heart rate one last time. His sensitive hearing didn't require the stethoscope that he pulled from around his neck, but it was a habit at this point. It wouldn't do to let himself grow complacent by not using his props too often and then accidentally do it in front of the other staff. 

89/62. A little hypotensive still, but he knew the fluids and the fludrocortisone would help to bring it back up within range soon. He placed the stethoscope into his pocket as he exited the room and closed the door gently behind him. He could have left it cracked open, but his intention was to keep the noise of passing staff from waking her. From talk of his patients over the years, he knew it was difficult enough to get a decent sleep in a hospital without chatting nurses and squeaky carts jolting patients from sleep every five minutes, and this sweet lady had no family here to care for her.

Dr. Carlisle Cullen nodded politely at the two women behind the nurse's station as he passed. Technically, his shift had ended 43 minutes ago, but he had wanted to check in on Ms. Talley who'd been brought in by ambulance earlier that morning after she'd lost consciousness while in the checkout line and gone into shock. But she was stable now, and there was nothing more to do but let the medications kick in and see that she gets a good nights rest. 

He looked down at his watch, a beautiful gold antique, perfectly restored, that Esme had given him for their last anniversary. He didn't want to worry her. He slipped off his white coat and folded it pristinely over his arm before pulling out his cell phone to call her as he began his walk to the parking lot.

He'd have to shower and drop his coat and clothing straight into the wash when he got home. Somehow the slight rubbery smell of medical tape and the sharp burn of hand disinfectant always clung to him long after a shift.

"Doctor Cullen!"

Carlisle spun back around to find one of the nurses on duty standing just inside the sliding glass doors.

"Cassie, what can I do for you?" He smiled warmly back at her and slipped the phone back into his pocket. She was one of the few nurses who didn't throw constant advances at him, and he liked her. She was shy and kind-hearted...and reminded him a bit of Bella.

He quickly redirected his thoughts. It was too hurtful to think of her just now. He may need his focus for an incoming patient, and thoughts of Bella would undoubtedly lead to a hundred others, ones he had no control over at this exact moment.

"I'm sorry to bother you." She seemed uncomfortable calling out to him in the parking lot. He walked back over to the entrance doors. "It's just that you have a phone call."

"Could you transfer it to my office? My voicemail will pick up, and I can return the call tomorrow."

"I would have, but he said it was an emergency. It's some police officer. He sounded a bit frantic on the phone. I thought it best to come to get you--I'm sorry."

Police? What could have happened? Surely one of his children would have contacted him if there were a problem. Why hadn't Alice seen anything? Or maybe he was overreacting...maybe it had nothing to do with his family.

Carlisle walked quickly back into the hospital.

"Thank you, Cassie. I'll grab it in my office. What line is he on?"

"Two."

He nodded and quickened his pace once he was around the corner from prying eyes. Slipping into his small office, he locked the door behind him and picked up the phone.

"This is Dr. Cullen."

"...Carlisle?"

He recognized the voice immediately, but he told himself it couldn't be. How had he ever found him?

"Is this Carlisle Cullen?" The man repeated. A small part of him--a very small part, wondered if it would be best to lie, to deny it and just hang up. But the part that screamed at him to take hold of the broken pieces of his family and pull them back together again won out. He knew it was selfish of him, but for once in his life, he truly didn't care.

"Charlie--yes, it's me." What could only be the sigh of a sincerely relieved man came from the other end of the line, and despite the uncertainty that still surrounded this unexpected call, Carlisle could honestly relate to the man.

There was a break between their two families, and it had hurt his own badly. Charlie could never understand how the separation between their children affected his family, nor should he have to. Not even Bella, who had a small insight into their supernatural world, would have fully understood. And he had never intended her to. It was not fair to them. She and her father deserved to live their human lives without interference from the dangers of the vampire world. 

"Thank God!" Charlie continued. "You can't imagine how hard it's been to find you. I never considered you'd be all the way in Alaska. This was sort of my last ditch effort--"

"Charlie, is something wrong?" Carlisle interrupted him. He didn't want to be rude, and he kept his tone polite, but the speeding trains of his thoughts were racing forward, and he was starting to get concerned about why Charlie Swan would go to the trouble to track him down.

"Everything. Everything is wrong. Carlisle, I need you to come--come quickly, please. There's not much time."

"Charlie, tell me what's happened."

"There's no time. Please--I'm asking father-to-father...help me." A human would have never heard it, but Charlie's voice cracked at the end, and the sorrow and panic of this mans words felt like a kick to his chest.

Bella.

His pseudo-daughter. This had something to do with Bella. He was sure of it.

"I'll be on the next plane there."


End file.
